Stupid Mantis Shrimp...Need Opinions

nina&noah

nina&noah

Member
I have a mantis shrimp that I haven't been able to catch. I noticed him about a week before I left on vacation. Since he had been in there for atleast 10 months without causing any damage I thought that a few weeks weren't going to hurt anything.
I went out of town for a week and a half. Before I left I had the tank cleaned and tested all of the water parameters. When I got back my tank was filthy. There is red algae growing all over the sand. It just looks gross. I couldn't figure it out. It had just been cleaned 2 weeks ago. The sand never looks like that even after a month. Then I figured it out...
I have no hermit crabs. They are gone! I could not find even one. I had them when I left and now I have none. My husband doesn't believe that the stupid mantis shrimp could have possibly eaten 20 hermit crabs in two weeks, but they are certainly gone! So do I
1. Buy more hermit crabs which will clean my tank, but will feed the stupid shrimp.
or
2. Don't buy more hermits and hope the thing starves to death.
I'm trying to catch him, but he is still too small to set the trap off. I'm estimating he is about an inch long. What would you do?
 
sly

sly

Active Member
You can take a 1 liter bottle and cut it in half. Turn the top half around and attach it to the bottom half so that it forms a funnel going into the bottle. Tape it and put some food in the bottle. The shrimp might try to swim into the bottle to get the food but be unable to get out easily. Cut some small slits in the bottle so that it can fill up with water and empty easily.
Did your salinity drop any while you were gone?
 
A

alexmir

Guest
If he doesnt have any crabs to eat he will get hungry and eat the fish.....
If there are no fish to eat then he will find other things to eat. You said hes been in there for weeks without eating any hermits, so he has been in there for a while if you have just seem him, so he has been eating something.
I would try very diligently to remove him, there are many traps to catch him out there, stuff that you can make at home. And when you catch him, sell him on here and use that money to buy more hermits....
 
nina&noah

nina&noah

Member
Originally Posted by Sly
http:///forum/post/2580894
You can take a 1 liter bottle and cut it in half. Turn the top half around and attach it to the bottom half so that it forms a funnel going into the bottle. Tape it and put some food in the bottle. The shrimp might try to swim into the bottle to get the food but be unable to get out easily. Cut some small slits in the bottle so that it can fill up with water and empty easily.
Did your salinity drop any while you were gone?
I will try this tomorrow! Salinity actually went up a little while I was gone.
 
nina&noah

nina&noah

Member
Originally Posted by alexmir
http:///forum/post/2580897
If he doesnt have any crabs to eat he will get hungry and eat the fish.....
If there are no fish to eat then he will find other things to eat. You said hes been in there for weeks without eating any hermits, so he has been in there for a while if you have just seem him, so he has been eating something.
I would try very diligently to remove him, there are many traps to catch him out there, stuff that you can make at home. And when you catch him, sell him on here and use that money to buy more hermits....

I thought this might be the case, but I think he might be a little too small to eat the fish. Would he eat sea urchins? I'm missing one of those as well.
 
t316

t316

Active Member
Originally Posted by nina&noah
http:///forum/post/2580903
I will try this tomorrow! Salinity actually went up a little while I was gone.
Catch him...he's bad news, unless you can put him in a tank by himself (some people love these things).
If your salinity went up too much, the inverts could have died, and then he just ate what was available, not necessarily making him a murderer IMO.
 
nina&noah

nina&noah

Member
I set the trap using a water bottle and some cocktail shrimp. I left the house for an hour and a half. When I got home I checked the trap and I caught a royal dottyback!
I took it out, let the fish go and set the trap again. I'm not very optimistic though. Any other ideas?
He is not even shy! He pokes his little head out at me like he is teasing me! I can't get the rock out because of the way it is structured. AHHHH!

Meanwhile, my tank is a mess!
 
jeffreyyy

jeffreyyy

Member
Iwas going to suggest if you know what rock he's in you could take the rock out and suspend the rock over a bucket of water and he would come out sooner or later.
But, I see thet you can't get the rock out of your tank. Maybe try this if you see him jump to another piece of rock.
Good luck,
Jeff
 
jeffreyyy

jeffreyyy

Member
I was going to suggest if you know what rock he's in you could take the rock out and suspend the rock over a bucket of water and he would come out sooner or later.
But, I see thet you can't get the rock out of your tank. Maybe try this if you see him jump to another piece of rock.
Good luck,
Jeff
 
crashbandicoot

crashbandicoot

Active Member
BLASPHEMY I tell you . But as said if your SG is fluctuating it could be the reason you lost inverts . But also its not beyond a mantis to eat everything it can get ahold of .
Good luck
 
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